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Saturday, March 28, 2015

Review of In a Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis

In a Handful of Dust
by Mindy McGinnis
Companion to Not a Drop to Drink
384 Pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books

This book falls about ten to fifteen years after the events in Not a Drop to Drink. It follows the little girl from the first book, Lucy.

When this book was announced, it was advertised as a companion to Not a Drop to Drink. I, however, don't think that is an accurate description of this novel. This could be a companion except for the fact that it completely spoils the ending of the first book. To me the definition of a companion is that you can read the books out of publication date and still understand what is going on in the story, but since the world building took place in the first book, you would be confused. I guess the publisher thought that this book followed a different character (don't worry Lynn is still very prevalent), so it would be considered a companion.

I just want to point out that this book is a more badass Oregon Trail story. Yes, its destination was not Oregon, but it has the same kind of feel as an Oregon Trail book would. I thought that the Oregon Trail part of this book was wonderful. I really felt like I was on the epic journey with Lynn and Lucy. Gotta love it.

This point doesn't matter, but why are there so many L-names in this book. It was like whenever someone new was met, there was a 40% chance of their name starting with an L. I guess it got pretty confusing at some points, but this fact did not affect my enjoyment of this book.

I love the new characters that were introduced. Even if you only knew the characters for a page or two, you really understood them and their motives. I think that Mindy McGinnis's specialty is creating wonderfully believable characters in a very short amount of time. It's straight up impressive.

Throughout this book the idea of family, and what makes up family appeared a lot. It really delved into what made family, and whether family is always made by blood. It also showed that even if you will never see someone again, you can still love, worry, and care for them. I've never read a YA book that was so family-oriented as this book.

Praise, Mindy McGinnis, for she can write a hell of a book without any need for romance. I am honestly not that big of a fan of romance in books, so when I finished the book and realized that there was no romance, I was awfully happy. It takes a lot for an author to be able to write a well done story without wasting pages upon pages on a poorly done romance.

This was one of the most suspenseful books I have ever read. The chapters always ended in places where you ahem no idea what came next, and there were points where I was almost in tears because I didn't know if someone was alive or dead. This was just wonderful. That being said, sometimes I got bored of so much build up, and not enough actually happening.

Ummmm. What was that ending. It was so ambiguous and open ended. Can we have another book. Please and thank you :)